Date marked with parade, show of capitalism

Vietnam celebrates 30th anniversary of war's end

Posted: Sunday, May 01, 2005

By Tini TranAssociated Press

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam - Communist Vietnam marked the 30th anniversary of the war's end with a colorful parade of floats - some emblazoned with American business logos - down the same boulevard where North Vietnamese tanks rolled to victory against a U.S.-backed government.

Hundreds of aging veterans, their chests decked with medals, watched from the sidelines as uniformed soldiers and costumed dancers waving red national flags marched toward the Reunification Palace. The legendary Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, military architect of the war, was among them, standing alongside Vietnam's President Tran Duc Luong.

Giant billboards of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam's late revolutionary leader, overlooked the parade route and adjoining streets, which had been blocked to the public for security concerns.

Familiar themes of national unity and sacrifice were sounded but the commemoration was striking for its focus on the country's economic development, with leaders putting aside communist slogans in favor of touting an emerging prosperity, particularly in the former South Vietnamese capital, Saigon.

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, was the country's "economic locomotive," attracting the bulk of the country's foreign investment, the president proclaimed to cheers from the crowd.

Along the grand boulevard, capitalism has taken solid root. Downplaying the military's role, this year's commemoration featured corporate sponsorship. Some floats, sponsored by Vietnamese banks, sported the logo of American credit card companies.

One by a local supermarket featured women pushing shopping carts filled with goods.

These days, Le Duan Street also is home to Diamond Plaza, a glittering, upscale department store where French perfumes and Italian shoes are sold. Along the same strip, a French-owned five-star hotel sits across the street from the U.S. consulate.

The changes are remarkable given what the country has undergone in the three decades since the war ended.

On April 30, 1975, Communist tanks barreled through the gates of the former Presidential Palace and the fall of Saigon marked the official end of the Vietnam War, and the decade-long U.S. campaign against communism in Southeast Asia. The war claimed some 58,000 American lives and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese.

The atmosphere in the country surrounding the anniversary has been mostly festive, focusing on Vietnam's recent economic rejuvenation. Memories of the war and its aftermath are little more than anecdotes in history books for most Vietnamese who were born after it ended.